Deeply Rooted | Branching Out

A campaign for a healthier New Orleans

A Long and Special Commitment to Health Care in New Orleans

The NO/AIDS Task Force, one of the nation’s oldest AIDS service organizations, had its humble beginnings in a New Orleans neighborhood in 1983 as a phone hotline for people with HIV or AIDS. Since then, it has served the community by providing exceptional primary health care, behavioral health, housing, counseling and testing for HIV, food services, and many other programs. The devastation of Hurricane Katrina and the changing health care environment spurred the leadership to strategically expand services beyond its original mission. NO/AIDS Task Force became a Federally Quali ed Health Center in 2013, rebranded its name to CrescentCare, and began serving the broader low-income community in addition to those living with HIV.

CrescentCare believes in a healthcare partnership for life for all the patients it serves. CrescentCare creates a “medical home” for patients and treats them holistically — providing primary medical care, family and pediatric care, obstetrics and gynecology services, behavioral health therapy, case management, housing, wellness and healthy- living initiatives, legal assistance, nutritional counseling and food programs, and dental services. CrescentCare is a leader in improving health outcomes and quality of life for its entire community of patients, particularly for service industry personnel, low-income individuals and families, and members of the LGBTQ community.

Tremendous Need for Increased Health Care Capacity in New Orleans

New Orleans has historically had a shortage of health care providers and clinics and this situation became much worse after Hurricane Katrina. CrescentCare, along with other clinics, worked hard to expand capacity, but access to health care in New Orleans remains very inadequate. With the state’s expansion of Medicaid in 2016, access
to health care has become even more critical; in New Orleans the Medicaid expansion resulted in over 100,000 people seeking health care with their new coverage. Illustrating the magnitude of the demand for health care, CrescentCare’s number of patients has more than tripled since 2014. To accommodate this continued exponential growth, CrescentCare requires a new facility with the capacity to serve the growing needs of our community making health care accessible and a ordable to all.

CrescentCare’s New Comprehensive Clinic Facility

Medical, dental, behavioral health, case management and prevention will all be under one roof in a 65,000 sq. ft. facility, resulting in higher quality care and cost-efficiencies.

The site at 1631 Elysian Fields is convenient to thousands of low-income patients, is accessible by public transportation, and is a medically undeserved area with poor current access to health care.

The new clinic will revitalize the neighborhood and stimulate economic growth and job development.

It will be a state-of-the-art clinic with the capacity to serve an additional 3,000 patients in addition to CrescentCare’s current patients, for a total of over 12,000 patients per year.

Capital Campaign

The total clinic cost is $23.5 million. CrescentCare has received New Market Tax Credits of $7 million, a $10 million permanent loan from the Primary Care Development Corporation and CrescentCare is contributing $2.5 from its own funds. This leaves a gap of $4 million that is being financed through this capital campaign. Your help is requested in making this clinic a reality to provide quality health care to over 12,000 low income individuals in New Orleans.